Michael Sides and I saw last year’s ‘from every angle’ Prom with Jan Lisieki. We experienced lag, as we were in the audience at the Watershed watching a live feed from the Old Vic theatre. The general view is that it was the lag or delay that made this experience somewhat unsatisfactory. Whilst this was indeed an issue, as the event was predicated on live relay, I also found the simultaneous overplay of so many multiple screens and camera angles distancing. For me, the visuals were too busy and the camera angles often failed to enhance the intimacy the performance. That said, my favourite part was when we saw a bead of sweat fall of Jan’s nose – as this made me feel more involved with the emotions behind his performance. I was also moved by the juxtaposition of his hands and feet as he was playing.

As documented by classical-music.com

One way around lag is to keep it to a minimum, the other is to play to it through the explicit use of slow motion. Both are valid approaches, the former being more theatrical and the latter more cinematic. Which art form is calling the shots in our project with the Sacconi Quartet? This question needs to be asked. As a multimedia person with a longstanding interest in the power of juxtaposition to reveal new ‘truths’, I favour the latter – or would at least like to try it out. Unfortunately, we are not able to do that because we don’t have the equipment or hire budget to do this with a live feed. No matter – all projects need limitations to push their creativity. I shall save this particular set of ideas for another time….For now, our priority is to keep things simple and to pay close attention to the music in the design of the visual treatment.